Now Enrolling - Email Director@ParkPrepAcademy.com to learn more and APPLY!
Apply Today!

Bubble Week/End of Summer Camp is next!

Hello all,

Cooking and Baking Week has come and gone and boy, was it great!  Read on below to learn about all the fun that was had and learning that took place!

The students arrived to school on Monday ready to get cooking and baking – particularly the child pictured above!  Much to their surprise, the students were greeted by Miss Caitlin, a PPA head teacher!  After taking a few weeks off at the end of the 2010-2011 school year to spend time with her family in California, Miss Caitlin, the teacher known as the “Baker” at PPA, returned to PPA just in time for Cooking and Baking Week!  The students welcomed Miss Caitlin back to PPA warmly with big hugs!

The students were so excited to learn that their first assignment for Cooking and Baking Week would  be to make a classroom staple – home school-made play-dough from scratch!  Following the recipe below, the students portioned out, poured in, and mixed together all of the ingredients!

In a large mixing bowl, add three cups of flour, 1.5 cups of salt, 3 cups of water, 1 tablespoon of cream of tartar, and 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil.

Add food coloring to the mixture then stir!

Cook on the stove  until the mixture firms up into a play-dough-like consistency.  Set aside to cool!  After the three batches of play-dough had been cooked and had a chance to cool off, the teachers separated out a generous handful of play-dough for each child to take home (along with the recipe) in a baggie!

The leftover play-dough was combined together to make a big batch for the classroom!  Can you guess what color play-dough resulted from combining (or mixing together) a little bit of blue, a little bit of green, and A LOT of pink play-dough?

If you said “Purple”, then you are correct!

Monday was shaping up to be a very exciting day!  The excitement grew as the students noticed some changes in the butterfly tent – the butterflies were out of their chrysalises!  The students gathered around the tent to see the butterflies in flight!

The teachers asked the students if the butterflies should be the new classroom pets?  The students shouted out with excitement at the idea of keeping the butterflies forever.  A few of the older students, recalling summer camp from last year, suggested that perhaps the butterflies would be happier out in the wild where they would have room to fly anywhere, not just inside a tent.  The students began to brainstorm a list of all the fun places the butterflies could travel to.  Here is the list that they came up with.

After creating this list, the students decided that perhaps traveling the world would be more fun for the butterflies than living in a tent.  The students decided that they would be sure to let the butterflies go and fly free on the next sunny day.  Park Prep Academy has such sweet and kindhearted students.

On Tuesday, the cooking and baking continued as the students made home school-made gummy worms from scratch!  Following the recipe below, the students portioned out, poured in, and mixed together all of the ingredients!

The gummy mixture was then put into the refrigerator to cool.  A short while later, the teachers cut the hardened gummy block into worm-like strips!  The students gobbled up their school-made gummy worm quicker than any early bird in town!

During the afternoon, the students of PPA were paid a visit by a very special Surprise Guest!  The students could hardly contain themselves as they brainstormed a list of possible visitors!  Here is the list they came up with!

Finally, the time had come!  The Surprise Guest had arrived!  The students covered their eyes and eagerly awaited the big reveal!

Do you know who came to visit PPA?  It was Ariel, the Little Mermaid!

The students jumped for joy to greet the underwater princess who had come to land to visit the students!  Ariel led a fabulous dance party with the students before posing for pictures with some of her favorite friends!

Ariel surprised the students even more when she informed them that she is also an excellent face-painter!  One by one, the students lined up to have their face painted by Ariel!

While they were having their face or hand painted by Ariel, the students showered Ariel with compliments (or nice words).  They asked her TONS of questions all about what life is like under the sea and with Prince Eric.  They even showed her special place in the PPA classroom – in the fish tank of course!

Unfortunately, Tuesday was coming to a close and the students had to say “see you soon” to Ariel before heading home for the day.  What a great day!

On Wednesday, the students worked together to bake Rice Krispie Treats!  After they were prepared, the students devoured them during snack time!

Seeing that Wednesday was the first day of the week where it was sunny, the students decided that Wednesday would be the perfect day to release the butterflies!  Watch below as the students release the butterflies into the wild!


Photo SharingVideo SharingPhoto Printing

All throughout their outdoor play, the students kept finding butterflies!

The butterflies must have really enjoyed being a part of Park Prep Academy Summer Camp because they did not seem to want to leave!  By the time the students headed back to school, the butterflies had all flown away.  Enjoy exploring the world butterflies, we will miss you!

On Thursday, the students entered school with one question on their minds – Would the Rita’s Ice Walking trip be canceled because of the rain?  Only time would tell!  All morning long, the students worked in their morning stations and kept checking in with the teachers to see if a decision had been made about the field trip.  Fortunately by the time the afternoon came around, the rain had cleared and the sun was shining!  The students headed out the door and down the block for their sweet reward!

Upon arrival at Rita’s, the students were greeted warmly by Mr. Clifton, the owner of Rita’s Ice!  Mr. Clifton welcomed the students by asking them if they had been to Rita’s before.  As you can see from the number of hands in the air, the students clearly were not only familiar with Rita’s but EXCITED!

After some discussion about the way that Rita’s Ice makes their Ices, the students learned about the 58 flavors Rita’s is famous for.  It was decided by vote, that the students would place an order for three flavors – Cherry, Mango, and Chocolate!

After the students above had placed the order, Mr. Clifton surprised everyone by inviting two volunteers behind the counter to actually scoop the ice for the entire school!

As every good employee does before going to work, the students had to wash their hands.

Once their hands were clean, the students headed onto chairs and began scooping in the ice like true professionals!

What a COOL surprise!  Mr. Clinton took over from there.  Once the order was filled, the teachers paid for the treats and the students headed back to school.  A special PPA thank you to Mr. Clifton for such a great and yummy field trip experience!

Upon their arrival to school, the students took turns coming up to the “Rita’s Ice Shop” inside the classroom.  The students had a choice of one, two, or three flavors!  Regardless of what combination they chose, one thing was for sure – everyone LOVES Rita’s!

Take a look at who dropped into PPA on Thursday afternoon – Officer Tosado!  The students greeted their favorite police officer and even shared some of their Ice and Rice Krispie Treats!

On Friday, the students headed to Goerhig’s Bakery!  Here are some of the photographic highlights from the trip!

Wow!  What a great day.  What a great week!  As always, thank you for reading.  Have a fun and safe weekend.  Be sure to scroll to the bottom of the Reminders to see all the photo albums from this week.

-PPA

Reminders:

Events Next Week:

Monday – Craft Day

Tuesday – Outdoor Games/Field Day!

Wednesday – Outdoor Games/Field Day!

Thursday – Turtle Back Zoo Field Trip!

parents welcome to attend!

Friday – PPA Family Picnic at the Park (12:00 p.m.- 1:00 p.m.)

ALL PPA Camp families are welcome to join the PPA Campers

for an End of Camp Family Pizza Picnic at the Park!

Next Friday (August 26th) is the Final Day of the 2011 PPA Summer Camp!

The 2011-2012 PPA School Year begins on September 7th for all three, four, and five day students!

(September 8th for all two dayers!)

Click here to view all of the photographs from Tuesday’s Surprise Guest – Ariel Visits PPA!

Click here to view all of the photographs from Thursday’s Walking Trip to Rita’s Ice!

Click here to view all of the photographs from Friday’s Walking Trip to Goerhig’s Bakery!